In what has been an exciting three way battle in the league, with only two points separating the top three teams, this final fixture between second placed Phantoms and third placed Chieftains was always going to be huge and so it proved. The pre-game permutations were that a point for Phantoms would be enough to make the National Finals weekend but a win for Chieftains would see them leap frog Phantoms to take that spot from them. A very noisy crowd with a big travelling support from Chelmsford set a spine tingling atmosphere that must have been something special and something quite frightening in equal parts for the young players on both teams.
U11s hockey is quite something to behold for those more used to senior hockey. At this level, the lines are changed on the buzzer every 80 seconds but the game does not stop so its a case of leave the puck and clear the ice as another set of rival lines race on to pick that loose puck up ….. its glorious madness that adds a pulsating and exciting new element to the gameplay !
Both teams showed from the start that the game meant everything to them. It was as fast and as frenetic as you’d expect from a game of this importance but both sides maintained good positional discipline leaving the game devoid of clear cut chances and the first period ended goalless.
Early in period two, Chieftains George Beckett was called on a holding minor (minors are one minute long at this level) to leave Phantoms on the powerplay but a loose puck in front of Phantoms goal was slashed home by Chiefs captain Joe Tomalin to put the visitors ahead. The goal rocked the young Phantoms side who suddenly looked ill at ease with the game position and the visitors were starting to threaten with Phantoms netminder Sasha Bravo having to pull off a string of saves to stop the 7-0 shots on goal advantage in the period killing off Phantoms ambitions.
The second period break was critical and coach Jon Kynaston needed to get the team refocused as well as inspiring his top line to find a way through what had proven so far to be an impenetrable Chieftains defensive unit.
Whatever was said certainly had the desired effect. The final period started with Louie Kynaston winning the face-off to slip the pass to Mathew Saville. Saville made a big play on Chiefs Jake Hill to break the D-line and then it was a race for goal with Mathew feeling the heat from several trailing Chiefs but he kept his composure to whip the puck home and it was 1-1 with just eight seconds on the period.
Now it was Phantoms turn to grab a period of momentum with Louie Kynaston racing through to draw one of several great saves from Luke Conley in the Chiefs goal but the drama of the occasion started to over-excite those on and off the ice as penalties started to pile up on both sides with referee James Tasker having to take a fair bit of heated feedback from the visitors off-ice staff.
One goal now would surely seal the game either way but netminders Bravo and Conley were both performing heroically and defensive units on all three lines were taking no chances in clearing their zones with great determination as the clock ran down. As the final minute arrived, the home fans were on their feet to see the boys over the line and to witness huge celebrations as Phantoms secured their place at next weekend’s finals at Ice Sheffield.
Absolutely the right result in the end. After an even opening period, Chelmsford were the better team in the second but Phantoms found the extra gear they needed to take the third to share the honours but huge credit to both teams for serving up a real barn-burner of a hockey game !
Next weekend’s National Finals weekend runs from Friday to Sunday. The U11s competition will feature the winners and runners up from each of the four regional divisions – north, midlands, south east and south west. They will be split into two groups to play round robin format before the medal round.
Game stats HERE
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